Around here

The moon must be blue today.....I have a napper in the house.  Full advantage is being taken of this time.  I am not doing any social media except this blog and just checking things off my list.  I know if I take one finger swipe onto a newsfeed of any kind I might be lost for an hour and then this precious, rare time will be gone.....not knowing when it will return again.

November has been a pretty great month for us.  At the beginning of the year I was thinking about (for bible study) some of the things I wanted to really hand over to God.  Some things that I think I do that He could do better.  One thing was busyness.  I have been far too busy the past year or two at home.  Scheduling things during the day or after school.   I really prayed over our schedule and thought "where can I be less busy and more available?  Where do You (God) want me to stop doing something so I can do something different that You want for me?"  Available was a word that I hadn't been the past year or two.  Available for my kids, for Craig, for my friends, for teachers.  Just available to the ones that matter the most.  So this year we cut a whole bunch of little things out and I became AVAILABLE.  This year started SLOW with lots of free time and it was hard to get used to....but it is really cool to see how God has been using just the simplicity of being available for Him.  Time and time this year I have been able to say "YES" to the ones that matter most to me when asked to do something.  Another area I KNEW I needed be more aware of was intentional time with my kids.  Goes hand in hand with the first.  Time spent in a myriad of ways:  Reading the bible with them, building, going on walks, etc.  For me....all I had to do to make this a reality was to listen to that voice inside me telling me to LEAVE THE IPAD UPSTAIRS DURING THE DAY.  When I didn't leave it upstairs....I was on it.  And all of a sudden 30 minutes were gone.  And so for me.....leaving it upstairs, in our room, makes me REALLY need to go out of my way to check something and I have to ask myself "Is this really important" instead of spending mindless time on the internet.

I digress.  So November, I have seen strides towards how I think God intended me to mother.  2 steps forward, 1 step back some days.  But strides.  Craig and I have been intentional about setting up a family fun night (or day) every week or two.  The kiddos go nuts for it.  It has been so very simple.  One of their favorite activities is just pretending we are all contestants and judges on the Voice and then we all take turns singing.  Hilarious.

A nice Sunday in early November we scheduled this for our Family Fun Day:  A ride on the dirt trails in our area.  I don't have too many action shots since riding on single track dirt and taking pictures is not an ability I possess.  But I have some good shots of us when we paused.

There was this great area built for tricks.  I tried (unsuccessfully) to do the teeter totter but Craig rocked it.  I was able to do one of the bridges.  After we rode the kids got off their bikes and just ran around the area:

2 hour late starts happen once a month around here.  This was a crisp morning to take some cocoa in a thermos out into the "woods" in our neighborhood and just play.

Guess what Isaac spent his time doing (again....)

And the time available after school this year to build our own "trick area" that was a little more to our level than the one we were at:

November brought Andie's first swim meet.  To say I was excited and nervous is an understatement.  She did really, really well and just loved it.  I cannot believe she is already swimming but she is having a lot of fun with it.

So....that was my racing suit in college.  For real.  I think I wore them a little too tight.  It was slightly loose on her but that is crazy.  She does have a really long torso but still....

A few extra days off around Thanksgiving and we were able to meet a friend at a State park to hike a trail we had never done before.  She asked me:  Do you ever want to go hiking with me....I'm looking for a hiking buddy.  Ummmmmm....YES.  Her boys are all just one year younger than my kids and it was a good match up.

That afternoon Andie asked if we could drink tea and read poetry.  The thought of the look on the boys' faces made me laugh but I said "sure".  She got it all ready.  I brewed some tea.  I made the rule that all of us readers (Me, Andie, Isaac) needed to go around and read one poem.  Well....they loved it.  Isaac read at least 10 poems and they were still reading poems long after Caleb (and myself) were over it.

And yesterday we had our first official snow.  The good kind.  The kind that is Big and Flaky and sticks really well.

And last:  Craig's masterpiece for this Holiday Season.  Our old indoor artificial tree.  Was missing its base....so he made one out of a log.  This proves what I say about Craig.  95% of his ideas are really out there and then 5% of the time he strikes pure gold.  I personally think this is part of his 5%.

So November was good....December seems to be wanting to fill up on me but I stop and remember what a blessing it has been to have TIME these past few months....so here is looking at saying No to some GOOD things while making time for the BEST things.